Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Basketball team saw their three game winning streak snapped Monday as they fell 86-76 to Puget Sound, which wrapped up the Mission Holiday Classic.

With the loss the Poets drop back to .500 on the young season at 3-3, while Puget Sound improves to 5-5.

The Loggers jumped out in front 6-0 to start things off and they didn't look back.  The Poets managed to keep it close pulling within two at 9-7 following two free throws from Chris Kapano (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and a triple from Jacob Contreras (Pleasanton, Calif.).

Contreras would then knock down another three-pointer to get the Purple & Gold within one and then another minutes later that kept WC in striking distance but his long range shooting wouldn't be enough as Puget Sound would rattle off a 7-2 run that stretched their lead to six before they took a 40-29 lead into the half.

The Poets came out hot in the second scoring the first seven points with two three-pointers coming from Louis Kurihara (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) and Ben Maynard (Pasadena, Calif.).  That pulled the Poets within four but that's as close as they would get as PS would go on their own run of 13 straight sparked by back to back to back three balls that moved the score to 53-36.

Despite trailing by  17 midway through the second half the Poets battled to pull within five turning it into a game with Andrew Torres (Whittier, Calif.) scoring six of Whittier's next 12 points.  During the run Maynard and Contreras would also connect on three-pointers.

But down the stretch the Poets had no answer for Carlos Mancasola who had six three pointers for the game and a game high 21 points.  He got the Loggers back on track keeping them out in front despite Maynard and Michael Alvarez (Downey, Calif.) pulling the Poets within four on two different occassions with triples.  But in the final 10:00 free throws proved costly as PS would convert 10 chances at the charity stripe that helped them hold on for the ten point victory.

Torres in his first game of the season came off the bench in 21 minutes and scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.  Contreras continues to hold the hot hand from deep as he poured in 15 points going a perfect 5-for-5 from three point territory.  Maynard was the triple threat with 15 points with all five baskets coming from behind the arch, while coming up one shy of a double double with nine boards.             

Whittier has a week off for the Holiday's but will return this weekend to begin preparations for the Purple & Gold Poet Classic set to take place next Tuesday and Wednesday, December 29-30.  Teams taking part in the classic include Chapman University, Bristol University, and Willamette.